“Welcome back,” the lich growled out.
I could feel them. My bones. They ached and cracked with every movement. It’s been so long… The last thing I remembered was Liam. He was cut down by that damnable traitor of a thief… Or was it the priestess…
Memories faded in and out of consciousness as I felt the magic cracking shattered bones back into place. Old and unhewn, battered and bruised… Most foreign to me, I knew that from sheer instinct. You work with enough, replace them over time, you start feeling differences after all. And focusing on little feelings like that helped the processes.
I opened my jaw to speak… Only to find it absent.
“Do not attempt. You are not quite done yet…” the lich chided calmly, placing a boney hand on my cranium. “Plus, it has been quite some time since last you rose, hmm? This world is going to be strange to you, old friend.”
I heard the metal of the Lich’s other arm whine in protest as it moved, thumping heavy staff against cold stone tiles as the Lich floated on what sounded like creaking wheels over to some sort of arcanium. From where I lay on the table, I couldn’t quite see what exactly it was.
“It will take quite a bit of time for you to regain your old power. But we have plenty of that. Don’t you worry,” the Lich’s grinding voice echoed in the small laboratory.
Looking around, I saw them. Ghouls and skeletons littered the place. Old, rotten bones, staring hollow at me… And then one bowed. When it stood back up, I saw a small piece of steel bolted into the skeleton’s ribs. “Jessica.”
The Lich chuckled. A gravely, heinous sound… Fitting, honestly. “I thought I’d keep the tradition,” they chimed, turning back to me. “I thought to use something that might last a bit longer than parchment, however…”
I could finally see it clearly. The tag flapping against the Lich’s decrepit robes, as the fog cleared from my eyes and I realized they were restitched from my old ones.
As the steel split-jaw snapped in place of my old one, I felt the creaking bolts groan in protest as I spoke their name. The first of many… My pride and joy…
“Albert…” I wheezed feebly.
“Hush… Master…” The Lich- Albert chided once more. “You will regain it all, soon… We have plenty of time.”
discoholicmusic
prguitarman
germansingergirl
turnnoffyourmind
